Woot, Jawan WatchAlong! For DIWALI!!!! I’ve ordered my coffee, I’ve fed the dog, I am ready to CELEBRATE.
Jawan! Hindi Extended Cut! On Netflix!
At 7am Chicago time I will put up an “and PLAY” comment and then we can all comment along from there!
Weekend WatchAlong: Jawan! 7am Chicago Time!
dontcallitbollywood 
YES! It’s The Cutest Little Girl in the World!!!!
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I am happily in the minority on this, but I feel like she is a terrible child actor. I feel like all her lines are super memorized, except for the moment she slaps her head. I’m not saying she isn’t cute, but I bet there are some better child actors in India.
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SRK-the-person is having such a good time acting with this little girl.
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YES!!!!
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Such a meet cute
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There’s just no reason for this, right? Like, he doesn’t have a brilliant plan which involves marrying a police officer or anything? He just decides it’s a good idea to get involved with the woman who is investigating him? Or at the very lest, a not-terrible idea?
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He feels commited to the child, and he knows she is beautiful and smart. obviously he doesn’t think she is a bad person. Of course, as I have mentioned before this watch a long, I feel no connection between the two of them.
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But it’s so STUPID!!! ther are over beautiful smart women in India and other adorable children who are NOT in the middle of trying to track you down and put you in jail!
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He is ruled by his heart! ANd his heart can’t dissapoint the child!
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Idiot.
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I literally laughed out loud at this comment!
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Oh my gosh, is he about to tell Nayanthara, A COP, everything he is doing and who with? the man is a FOOL.
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Anxious attachment due to childhood trauma? 😀
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This song is stupid catchy
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People actually travel from around the world to get medical treatment in India, but not at government hospitals.
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Exactly. It’s crazy that the government accepts this reality. Of course, as an American, I am in no positiont o critique anyone else’s health care system.
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Yes, a plane ticket to India for an operation at a private hospital costs less than an operation in the U.S.!!
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While still being totally unaffordable for the majority of people living in India!!! The whole thing is messed up. And that’s not even talking about the Brain Drain aspect where America is importing medical professionals from India. Come on Health Ministers, just do your job!
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Yesterday we bought a Washer/Dryer combo. Outside of medical bills it was our largest purchase in 8 years! Our medical bills for the last three years would have given us 5 washer/dryer combos!
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I assume this is his standard stump speech, so they knew he would say “shoot me in the heart” at some point while talking and planned accordingly. Must have been worried he would change his closing, but not that worried because this is not a very imaginative man.
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I’m sure he said the same thing many many many many many times before!
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Agreed. I am sure this was his standard speech that he’s given many many times to his constituents.
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Was the aide laughing at the kidnap because they were women?
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I think women, and young women dressed as nurses. By the way, the theatrical version cut the little bit later where hte aid has a change of heart. I am so glad it was put back in for streaming. that’s such an important part of the message, here is a regular guy who doesn’t think much about the meaning of his job and his boss, but once it is pointed out to him the ultimate result of what his boss does, he has a total change of heart.
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I just love Sanya Malhotra!
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So do I!
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Me too!!!
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They don’t make it clear, but I think what happens is that she calls her friend who is in medical school and the medical students rush over to help out and bring the supplies they can. So the doctors are sincere, they want to help and care for people, but they aren’t given the tools to do it. The will is there, but not the resources.
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I thought that was pretty clear, but maybe not that the friends were in medical school. But the doctor’s trying was VERY clear.
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Yes! All the doctors, it was the Administrators who didn’t care at all.
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I do like the long hair, I know I am alone on being a fan of long haired SRK. But, when push comes to shove, I think the bald is my all time favorite.
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I love long haired SRK
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Hmmm. My biggest doubt on this whole “turning the hospitals nice in 5 hours” thing is if they could even find the equipment needed that fast. But on the other hand, there are those fabulous private hospitals. So I guess the equipment is manufactured and sold and readily available, along with technicians to install it, they are just working for the private hospitals instead of the government ones.
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Yeah, they probably forced the private hospitals to give them the equipment, leaving those same hospitals in dire straights for a couple weeks until they get the equipment re-ordered.
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Or, they just returned all the equipment the next day once the hostage situation was resolved.
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I think the point of this sub plot was that the materials are already there but because of the organized corruption with people siphoning off money, they can’t pay for things. So if you remove that, it is theoretically possible to expedite the reform.
This only works for the less advanced things though like medical supplies and oxygen. ECG machines and high tech equipment…. Less so
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I think this is supposed to be a brilliant escape plan, but I can’t follow it. Explosion, helicopters, fight scene, blah blah, they get away.
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I wouldn’t hear about any of this until the next day when I read it in a newspaper, this whole watching the news WHILE events are happening does not exist in my life. I mean, I streamed CNN on January 6th, so I suppose am am somewhat disingenuous, but basically it takes a coup for me to WATCH news.
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I am the same way. I absolutely abhor watching the news. But I too was watching it on Jan 6.
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Same! Maybe someone would text me “have you seen the news?” but that would be it.
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Yes this doesn’t seem to exist in the US. It exists in India and also in Australia…. I don’t even have any traditional TV channels show up on my TV here. Apparently I need some kind of antennae?
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But, he just looks like Shahrukh! He always just looks like Shahrukh! These disguises are terrible.
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The phantom of the opera half face mask is my least favorite.
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Of course his younger brother is a hothead who is out of control! It is the way of all gangster younger brothers.
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I wonder if they gave the villain the Santa Claus look JUST for that one line?
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For government officials they were able to afford one hell of a wedding.
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Kaveri Amma seems to have a husband, maybe he has a good job?
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I think Nayanthara is from a wealthy family, female IPS officer… she has likely had to come from privilege and money, also the foreign degree and keeping the baby as a single woman…. so many signs that she comes from a powerful setup
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AMAZING WEDDING! So beautiful.
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I’m still thinking about the cost! It may not have been THAT expensive. It looks “small”, as in less than 50 guests, and no party or dinner, just the ceremony. Which makes it more beautiful to me, it’s about the promise to each other, not a big party.
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The lights, and setting… the fireworks.
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It doesn’t look like an expensive wedding for India
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Movies always make women look so beautiful when they cry. They never get smeared make-up of red eyes.
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This movie has taught me that basically any bullet wound short of straight in the head or heart is no worse than a paper cut. Put a bandaid on it and forget it!
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Okay Genevieve, compared to Bald SRK, where does Daddy SRK rank for you? He’s playing his age!
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Bald SRK is definitely sexier. The character of Daddy SRK is slightly confused, no memory, so he has a bit of a blank look in his face. That blank look works, but is not sexy. Also, his hair looks like they dumped a bag of flour on it, it doesn’t seem like a real gray.
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I know the fantasy of a single man taking on an army is a fantasy, and yet I love it so much. Especially when given groovy background music.
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Somehow it’s even cooler with the reaction shots of the girls thinking “should we help? nah, he doesn’t need help”
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In the Zaddy entry sequence, the original didn’t have all the surprise from the girls. I was like why is nobody wondering who is this and where did he come from? Now I know it was edited out
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Does anyone know what that weapon thing is he is using? Some kind of gear?
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It looks like a gear from a machine.
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Maybe symbolic of how his head injury makes him more like a machine, just doing his job as part of a whole without feeling any real connections?
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oooh, nice analysis!
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Old SRK’s reliance on ear pods is an interesting character choice, but I guess it gives the music a reason for existing.
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So he was living up in the mountains, right? Where there’s less oxygen. And now he is down at sea level. Therefore, the extra amount of oxygen going into his low-oxygen acclimated body is essentially making him a superhero! the science checks out!
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We’ve all seen and appreciated that Murad has been with the bad guy for over 30 years? That this is, in fact, the most longlasting relationship in the entire film?
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I had not noticed!
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YES! He’s in all the flashbacks! He is Ultimately Loyalty.
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Ah Deepika, nice to see you…
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Oh, and this is the very rare case where I LIKE SRK with a mustache.
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The look or the personality as a Mustache Person. Because I feel like it’s a big part of his character too, he is the kind of guy that would have a mustache, old school maschulinity and sort of formal army look.
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This song is SO FUN!!!! Oh, and Diwali appropriate, with all the fireworks.
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ANd this is the part where the intensity gets to be too much for me, so I’m gonna grab some food and coffee.
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The action scenes, or the bit whre Deepika reaches into your chest and breaks your heart?
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It is the action, but it could be that it is too much BECAUSE of the connection just made with Deepika. The movie breaks through stylization and kicks me in the stomach around here. Because I felt what old SRK felt for Deepika I now feel what he feels about his government’s betrayal, his friend’s death, etc. Here, more than before, the India 101 lesson becomes a very personal and emotional lesson.
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It’s a really interesting director choice to have that focus on Dips’ face when the orders arrive to interrupt their dance. It’s not about SRK being excited to go off and serve his country, it’s about Dips being afraid for him and tense to see him go.
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And I didn’t even notice it, and yet it is the moment when things start to get too intense.
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Yes I felt her dread right into my bones
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Okay, I’m almost positive these are Sikh terrorists. Does everyone feel the same? They have turbans and beards, they are saying “Inquilab”, and it’s the 80s.
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The turbans are not the sikh style, it looks like Taliban to me
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Love that SRK takes this medal ceremony and uses it to call out corruption!!!! He’s got the microphone, why not use it?
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I’m really noticing how different Vijay is from SRK in this scene. He’s leaning forward, he’s casually dressed, he is ready to talk this through and find a compramise. And SRK is all straight and serious and uniformed and not willing to bend on what is right and wrong. Confronting Vijay with his flaws and not letting him find a way out to make it someone else’s fault.
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Difficult to believe that businessman who manages to sell guns to a country’s military shows up to important businesses in a t-shirt and sweats.
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He’s just that cocky
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The “bathing” through line is so perfect in this scene, so everyday and familiar and married, and also weirdly sexy. Maybe because it is so intiment and everyday?
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Did he not see that his dog was shot? I mean why walk outside when you know there is someone there with a gun who might shoot you?
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He still had Sex Brain because Dips is just that sexy?
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Why did their home have no security?
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Here’s another moment of Vijay being able to tell himself that he isn’t THAT bad. He’s not gonna do anything to the wife, so long as she signs a statement, what’s the harm? And maybe for him it wouldn’t be a problem, he can’t imagine that knowing her husband is branded a traitor would hurt her as well.
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Oh, I think he knows it hurts her, he just thinks her patriotism is laughable.
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It seemed like a lie, like he will kill her after he gets her statement
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Dips despair and desperation and anger when she killed the cops was just, amazing! I can’t think of another actor who could have played it the same way, with such vulnerability and strength.
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YES! She played it like a her body was on autopilot, she was too sad to even care what she was doing. I also like that we can accept her actions without needing a backstory. Her character is so strong already that the idea of her being able to take out 3 armed men we can just accept.
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The whole dips subplot, I felt so like… the only people with strength in India are from Indian Army and their families (of course just my feelings, not true), also connecting to your post about how many of the “outsider” actresses are army brats breaking norms and conservative stereotypes
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Early evil Santa Clause doesn’t have the pills, he just throws his enemies out of a plane.
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Murad! Young Murad, already there to hold the coat!
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She takes her pulse and knows she is pregnant!! HA HA HA HA HA! She has a pregnant wrist!
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There’s two pulses, DUH! That’s how you know.
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Ha!
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Yes apparently doctors are supposed to be able to tell. In one movie they couldn’t tell and my mom who is a doctor went all – ridiculous how that doctor couldn’t tell, no way that is real
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I love how uninterested the hanging committee is about all of this. Okay, rain check, see you in 5 years.
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There’s a great Malayalam movie that’s a revenge woman in prison story. Our heroine is a nurse who is framed as a drug mule by her scuzzy boyfriend/pimp. But when she gets to prison, the scariest lady in the jail is pregnant and she is put in charge of taking care of her because she is a nurse. They bond and the woman offers her a favor when she gets out, which leads to the whole revenge thing. Anyway, pregnant ladies in prison! Someone has to take care of them!
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Which one?
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Ugh, this scene is so SAD!!! And again, Deepika is amazing, playing it with full interaction with the child actor, talking to a child, not giving a monologue. Also, they have to do it ON HIS BIRTHDAY??? The hanging committee is that eager?
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Yeah because they are in cahoots with Kali?
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Oooo, the way Dips corrects herself to call another woman his mother now, that’s killer.
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I have the complex feelings about the glory of pregnancy and children. On the one hand it is kinda a miracle, and on the other hand it happens so often everywhere to so many people. I adore children, and yet this special focus on them sometimes makes me annoyed that people see them as other than human. I totally believe that a child would be adored in a prison, and yet the whole thing also annoys me. I don’t know why I’m annoyed. But I’m sure there is a legitimate reason for my feelings somewhere.
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What works for me best in this sequence is the idea that Deepika and Baby Azad’s relationship is deep and important no matter the circumstances. And that Baby Azad feels happy and safe so long as his Mom is around, and Deepika protects taht feeling as long as possible. It sells me on “the worst thing is a child being separated from his mother” in a real way, not in a sappy cliche way.
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Something that occured to me on later watches, Deepika is killed for what SHE did. In another film she would have been framed or whatever. But no, she made the choice to kill three police officers rather than taking the easy way out. Her character has agency straight through.
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I love bewildered SRK in the group hug.
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Bewildered SRK is hilarious contineuosly.
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True!
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